AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18)

To get a read on how democracy and human rights are faring on the planet, check out the research of an organization called Freedom House (freedomhouse.org). In its most-recent annual report, it declared that 90 countries are free. They represent 47 percent of the world’s population. Fifty-eight countries, accounting for another 30 percent of the human swarm, are “partly free.”

Then there are the “not free” nations: 45 of them, with 23 percent of the Earth’s inhabitants. (Half of the “not free” people are in China.) It so happens that your personal degree of freedom, Aquarius, almost matches the world’s.

You’re 46 percent completely free, 35 percent partly free, and 19 percent not free. The good news is that the coming weeks will be an excellent time to reduce that 19 percent.